Hello everyone.

Here's the thing, I am working on converting my Spectrum 4-4-0's pilot/cow-catcher from the stock wood to the new strapped steel from the 2017 Mogul.  Now, I have the part, but the pilot doesn't fit.   In order to make it fit, I know some cutting from a dremel has to be done, but I fear of ruining my engine.  Also unfortunately only the steel cowcatcher is sold in the parts stock from the 2017 Mogul and not the ENTIRE assembly including the front pilot deck.  If the entire pilot assembly was including then it was be an easy swap of, swapping out the entire pilot assembly and not have to worry about making modifications to the 4-4-0's existing pilot deck.

Is there a way I can get the ENTIRE pilot assembly from the 2017 Mogul, and NOT just the cowcatcher, or are there tricks and tips in easy modifications that I can do to the existing pilot deck with out having to worry about ruining my engine?

Any help would be appreciated. 

Hello

I am trying to order parts for the new Bachmann Spectrum Mogul because I am performing a restoration on an old Spectrum Mogul and hope to have the operating crosshead pump, and metal gear box.

However, the online parts inventory for the Spectrum Mogul is such a MESS!!!
You have parts from the Industrial Mogul that don't belong in the Spectrum Mogul's parts listing, and not enough parts are shown.

I have been trying to call the parts department for the past week, but every time I'd call, I've been left hanging on the line.

A couple weeks ago I spoke with the person in charge of the parts inventory, and he told me to call back in 2 weeks.
It's been 3 weeks, no change to the parts inventory, and I really need to get these parts.

I hope I can get an answer soon.

Thank you.

Is it possible to order parts from the new generation Spectrum 2-6-0?

I'd like to make some modifications to my older Spectrum Moguls such as adding the crosshead feed water pumps, along with upgrading the gear boxes to the all bronze gears, and also revive a very beat up mogul that I used heavily in Hawaii that needs heavy repairs from corrosion and oxidation including a new boiler, cylinder set, and blind drivers.

So I was wondering if there's a chance if those parts are available because I don't see the new generation mogul parts on the online parts inventory.

Thank yo.

Hello.

I was wondering for when the new generation Mogul parts become available, will the metal bronze gears be interchangeable with the older moguls?  This is for if we wanted to upgrade the gears on the older generation moguls.   I have a good number of older generation Moguls, and even-though the North Western Short line drive gear is a good and long lasting remedy for the main drive gear failures on older moguls, the smaller idler gears have been known to fail, but fortunately have not yet failed on any of mine. 
Still, I'd like to permanently fix the gear failure problems on my older generation moguls by upgrading the gears from plastic to all metal before they fail, so I was wondering if the new gears are interchangeable with the older Moguls.

Thank you.

Hello.

I have a VERY old and beat up Spectrum Mogul that ran a lot on my garden Railroad on the Big Island of Hawaii.  Sadly the elements weren't so kind to her and the railroad, and now the engine is VERY badly beat up and needs A LOT of new parts including a new boiler, cylinder set, and tender trucks.

So I was wondering on when we can be expecting the parts of the newer generation Moguls to come in?

I plan on overhauling my Old Mogul and bringing it back to life by giving it the boiler, cylinders, and multiple other parts it will need from the newer generation engines.   The engine was kit-bashed and painted, so repainting won't be a problem, all that matters is getting the parts to rebuild the engine.

Hello, I was trying to install a Phoenix sound system on a Spectrum Forney, and I ended up shorting out the main circuit board.

Is there a way I can get a replacement, a Phoenix has no instructions on how to do it, so I need help with the installation on what goes where.  I just used power and ground for the motor on powering up the sound board, and the chuff is where things went wrong.

How can I get ahold of a replacement circuit board?  Thank you

I see some of the large scale spectrum cars are becoming harder to get ahold of with the production ending?

Is there a possibility for re-runs of the flat cars, gondolas, and hoppers?

Also the addition of refers, stock cars, and higher side gondolas would be nice.  I'm well aware that AMS also makes stock cars, refers, and high side gondolas, but I feel that Bachmann Spectrum's would be better, since they already surpass AMS with the murphy roof, normal box cars, hoppers, and flat cars.  More detail goes into stuff with Bachmann Spectrum than AMS on quite a few things.

My Olive Green Russian Iron 4-4-0 is aging, and with the wiring all worn out, it needs a new board.   That is not a problem, but also there is cosmetic wear and tear on the paint work.  A new cab, along with new wheels given how sharp the flanges are becoming, a new head lamp bracket, and possibly domes.   Those parts are not shown for the Olive Green 4-4-0 or the Lake Russian Iron 4-4-0, or Eureka & Palisade 4-4-0.   Only black and red wheels are what are shown, the correct colors of cabs, boilers, domes, wheels, tenders, head lamps, and brackets should be offered, because those who run their beautiful 4-4-0 Americans a lot will need new parts both mechanically, and cosmetically, like how the C-19 has them available.

Also the Spectrum 2-6-0 Mogul needs a bigger inventory of parts.  The boilers, cabs, frames, cylinders, brackets, pilots, "blind center drive wheels", brake pumps and brake shoe assemblies should be offered in the inventory.  Also the bottom cover plates on these 4-4-0s and 2-6-0s fall apart and break all the time so new ones, possibly metal cover plates should be offered because the plastic ones are fragile when and break when needing to remove the gear box to replace the drive gears.

I hope this is noticed and these parts get offered in the future.  There are a lot of aging locomotives that run, and with them being available on the K-27, and C-19s, they should also be offered on the Spectrum 4-4-0s and 2-6-0s.

Thank you.

I heard through the grapevine from NMRA that there will be new Spectrum Moguls coming out within the next 2 years or so. 

Road names:

Denver & Rio Grande

Eureka & Palisade

Grizzly Flats Railroad

Is this true, or is it a rumor? I'd love to know, so I can start budgeting for the engines.

Hello, I thought I'd give helpful information on how to update an Old Bachmann Climax by swapping out the old plastic trucks to the new diecast trucks.

You will need some siscors, extra wire, heat shrink tubing of the right size, a heat shrink gun or butane lighter, a soldering iron, a dremel with a small grinding wheel, along with a drill bit, and safety glasses.

First step, remove the old plastic trucks, and cut the wires off the old pick ups that run to the motor, but keep the plastic mounts.   

Second Step, remove the mounts off the diecast trucks, because you won't need them.   

Note, The plastic mounts won't fit at first, so they need to be cut down to size by using a dremel tool with a small grinding wheel at the end.   

Third Step, Lightly grind off both ends of the old mount, so it's even on both ends, then dry fit the new truck on the mount so it fits nice and snug.  Shortly after dry fitting the truck, pull it back off.

Forth Step, swap out the grinding wheel for a drill bit on the dremel and drill four small holes on the top of the mount, but not too close to the bolster.   Drill 2 holes in front of the bolster, and 2 holes behind the bolster.  The wires for the motor, and picks need to go through the truck somewhere, so that's why we're adding four small holes to the top of the mount. 

Fifth step, unscrew the bolster pick ups and cut the wires off of them.   This will make it a more direct and simple operation, and will ensure your locomotive's long life of operation.

Sixth step, get your extended wires, soldering iron, heat shrink tubing, and heat shrink gun and/or butane lighter, and solder on your extended wires onto those that were cut from the bolster pick up.   Then cut some heat shrink tubing to cover the connections.   Repeat this process for the wires that were on the mount wired onto the old pick up plates for the old trucks.

Seventh Step, run all four wires through the small holes you drilled on the top of the truck mount.  Red goes on the right hand side, and black goes on the left hand side for common large scale run.

Eighth Step, get the new diecast trucks.  You will see that the wires that go to the pick ups and motor are small mounts, and attached to small metal plates.   Unscrew the small mounts, and cut the wires from the small metal plates.

Ninth Step, cut some of the extended wires, slide on some heat shrink tubing onto the wires and solder the wires you have on the right hand side of the mount to wires on the right hand side of the truck.  And then solder the wires you have on the left hand side of the mount, to the left hand side of the truck.   Then using your heat shrink tubing, cover the wire connections.

Tenth Step, slide your new diecast truck onto the mount, and screw everything back together.

Repeat this whole 10-step process on the other truck as well.

That's it, you're old 1998 Climax is now updated with new 2011 Metal Diecast trucks.  Your engine should now run a whole lot better and last a whole lot longer too.

I hope this helps.

Hello, my Heiser's rear truck has finally given out the ghost after 8 years of hard operation.   It probably won't be long until the front truck wears out too, so I have completely disassembled the rear truck to replace the motor, wires, and electrical pick ups.  But before I rebuild the trucks to order the motor and pick ups, is it possible to get a hold of brand new trucks?   If not, then are roller pick-ups, and the 5-pole can motors, available to purchase?

Thank you.

I have been wanting to order a balloon stack for the shay for the longest time, but the balloon stack is for some reason, stated to always be "out of stock".   I have called for it multiple times, and kept getting the same answer, "check back in a couple weeks," and I have done that, still no balloon stacks.    Are these stacks out of stock and out of production for good?  I'd really like a balloon stack for my shay, since I plan to eventually do a kitbash to on of my 3-truck shays into Westside Lumber Company 10 in her current working life where she wears a balloon stack on the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad.   I have also tried to look for many other balloon Radley & Hunter stacks, but none are as close to the one on Westside number 10 as the Bachmann Balloon stacks.   I'd really like a couple of the stacks, and I hope they'll be back in stock soon.

Hello, I bought the new generation Climax back in 2011 with DCC  & sound and thought it would be a cost saving over getting regular Climax without the DCC and having to add sound later.

Nope, not so much.  The idle sounds are amazing, but that's about it, without the DCC remote, the whistle won't blow much, the bell will ring on throttle control, but the volume is not adjustable.  And from an earlier post I asked, I found out that I can't make the whistle and bell go off with magnetic triggers like that of most sound units, and that I can't adjust the volume with the addition of a switch. 

With that being said, I've decided to go ahead and buy a Phoenix PB-11 V6 sound board to put in the engine, but 2 questions.  How would I convert it from DCC to Normal DC in order for the engine to not use as much voltage to run, and what terminals on the engine's circuit board should I use as a power and ground source for my PB-11 V6 sound board from Phoenix?

Thank you

Chris

With the K-27 already made, who would like to see the even more awesome K-28 locomotive on the Spectrum line?

I am starting to save my pennies for this one because I really want Bachmann to make a K-28 locomotive, and the one I would go for would be engine 478, given how awesome of a 5-chime whistle she wears, how often she is run on the D&SNG as the 2nd crew favorite after engine 473, I just can't say enough good things about the Alco K-28.   Both LGB from Aster and Accucraft made K-28s, but they are out of production and very hard to get ahold of, not to mention that they are over $5K where as Bachmann's would list for a better range of $1.5K if one was ever made.

Who wouldn't want to see the amazing K-28, only 3 survive today, 2 still run on the D&SNG with one on display in the roundhouse, but long ago Alco made 9 of those beasts, and they were a favorite amoung crews for being the smoothest riding, easiest steaming and firing compared to the smaller K-27, and larger rough riding K-36s and K-37s.   The K-28 was overall the best machine used on the Narrow gauge, and I'm sure the models would be amazing.

Who wants to see Bachmann Spectrum produce some K-28 locomotives?

Since there are replacement trucks for the older shays to convert from the plastic to metal wheels, are there sets available for the Climax too?  Also why isn't the Climax in the Large Scale parts catalog?  In order to get ahold of the parts for the Climax, the Climax locomotive should be listed for available parts.  When I tried to call, I was told to order online, but the problem is, the Climax is not in the parts catalog.   I have a second generation which has the metal trucks, and I have a first generation that is in need of metal trucks.  Is it possible to get a set of metal trucks for the Climax like there is for the say, and if not, will there ever be a set of trucks sold seperately like that for the shay?   Thank you.

Hello, I am thinking about adding air-wire to my 4-4-0 locomotive, but I need some pointers.  The engine is equipped with a Phoenix PB-11 sound unit which is the tender, and I believe their is still room to add air-wire in the tender.  However, I see the main circuit and DCC board is in the engine.   Where would be the best place to hook up an Airwire G3, and how would I get the sound to work with it?

Thank you.

I would love to see a run of new 4-4-0 Americans and 2-6-0s Moguls since they are still being made, even in less of a quantity, but in new road names, and with major upgrades.   They would have improved metal gears, metal tender trucks and tender frame, a metal cylinder saddle and pony truck, and metal bottom cover plate.  The cab, boiler, and tender, cylinders, wheels and pilots can remain the same.   Steel cowcatchers and normal plain foot boards for the front can be offered on some models.  Onion stacks could be added along with straight stacks, Sunflower stacks, and caps stacks as well as keeping the current diamond and balloon stacks.    The would also have an additional oil tank on some models so there would be a choice between wood, oil, or coal fired engines.

And here would be new road names on both engines.

South Pacific Coast (Number 9 which was a green engine)

North Pacific Coast

Santa Cruz (Can't remember the rest of the road name but the engine is on display in Washington)

West Virginia Pulp & Paper Company

Nevada County

Denver & Rio Grande

Rio Grande Southern

Denver South Park & Pacific

Colorado & Southern

Eureka & Palisade (Improved more accurate version on the 4-4-0, and E&P did have a mogul.)

I would love to see new 4-4-0s and 2-6-0s come out, since I am a huge collector of the large scale Spectrum 4-4-0 and 2-6-0, and they are such simple locomotives to operate and maintain.  They are also very beautiful, graceful, eliegant, and smooth running, so I would love to see new 4-4-0s and 2-6-0s come out, and with mechanical improvements.

Hello, I am adding a Phoenix PB-11 sound to my 2-4-2.  Managed to get all the wires in, but am not getting any track power to the unit.   Where might I find a source for basic track power to wire up the unit?

Thank you

Well, we a lot of beautiful engines out on the Spectrum lines, and I was thinking that an engine we rarely see available on the Market for a decent price is a 2-6-6T Mason Bogie locomotive.  There is one that still survives and that's the famous Torch Lake locomotive at the Henry Ford Museum, although she's a standard gauge, the engine was originally a narrow gauge and a lot of Mason Bogie engines were narrow gauge.  The 2-6-6T was a very beautiful engine, and I would love to see one available from the Spectrum line.  With the list price of $1300-$1500 and an average selling price of about $600-$900 they would sell fairly well, and would no doubt be stunning models, and would probably out sell Accucraft for their high price Mason Bogies.   It's an engine that has been under rated, and it should be made more available on the market, and I would love to see them available from Spectrum because I always wanted a beautiful Mason Bogie engine. 

Well, since a Spectrum Caboose and Spetrum freight cars were made, I was wondering if we would see any Spectrum Passenger Cars in the future.  The current passenger cars we see are nice, but I was they would be nicer if the interior had opening doors, a removable roof to show off the details, LED lighting, metal trucks with better light pick-ups, and better detailed seats.   With the Spectrum 3rd Generation 4-4-0s out, and C-19s out, it would be nice to have Spectrum class coaches with Spectrum Baggage cars, Spectrum Combines, Spectrum Full Coaches, and Spectrum Observations, all in higher quality than the current ones available on the market to compete with Accucraft and their high prices.  Bachmann could make really nice Spectrum Coaches, and I'm willing to pay extra bucks to give my 4-4-0s something nicer to pull.   We could have really beautiful passenger cars out from the Spectrum Series.